


Even The Darkest Night Will End

by PotionsMistressM



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-14 00:42:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5723137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PotionsMistressM/pseuds/PotionsMistressM
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lily is waiting for him on the other side. (not necessarily shippy- it's purposely vague)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Even The Darkest Night Will End

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'd grief writing following Alan Rickman's death. Apologies in advance if it's choppy.

It was over. Not exactly the way he had wanted things to go, but what he had anticipated all the same. At least he had had time to give Lily's son his memories. Maybe that would help. Maybe in time the boy would understand. Despite being Potter's son, the boy was not completely unfeeling. In the end, despite his more infuriating qualities, Harry was really more Lily than James.

"Look... at... me..."

He sighed as the boy looked at him then. It gave him comfort that the last thing he should see in this world was Lily's eyes. He had no idea what lay beyond the veil, though he was well acquainted with the Muggle ideas of the afterlife. _If there is such a thing as Hell,_ he thought as the green eyes above him grew hazy and slid out of focus, _it cannot possibly be any worse than what I've already lived._

It happened so slowly he didn't even notice it happening until it was almost over. Bit by bit his vision darkened, and little by little he felt the pain leave his body. Nagini's venom raced through his veins, but backwards now, seeping out through the tiny pinpick wounds the snake's fangs had made. He felt weightless and strangely lithe. Free. Eventually, he realized he was completely enveloped by the dark, warm and free of pain and finally, _finally_ at peace.

But just as soon as he'd accepted the darkness, light began to creep in around the edges of his vision. Strange and unnaturally white, it was coming from behind him, and though he would have expected it to illuminate his surroundings and bring color to the previously blank space, there was no color. All that had just been black had turned into dazzling, blinding white. He was almost beginning to suspect that he wasn't really dead but that Nagini's venom had caused him to go blind when he heard the voice behind him.

"Sev."

One little syllable, but it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. That voice- _her_ voice- echoed softly in this blank space, and Severus turned toward it. 

A sob ripped through his throat as he stumbled into her arms, open and inviting. Waiting for him. He fell against her, feeling her arms wrap around him. She cradled him as he had once held her dying body, and she whispered words to comfort him as he lay his head on her shoulder. It had been so very, very long since he'd seen her- _felt her_ \- and now she was here, and after all this time she had forgiven him. For a very long time he clung to her, half-unbelieving and half-awestruck. After a time (a moment or a millenium, he couldn't tell), he lifted his head to look at her.

"What happened?" he asked her, "Where am I?" Lily only gave him the soft, sweet smile he remembered so well and brushed the stray hair away from his face and caressed his cheek. As she looked into his eyes her smile grew. She gave a small shrug and raised her other hand so that she held his face.

"You're home."


End file.
